Announcement

**johndmuller** · October 13, 2003, 05:31

Cap'n Maki, welcome to the bridge; may the wind always be at your back.

Did I miss something - why don't we have a pact anymore with the Borg?

The idea at Yardarm was to pop that pod after building the base at (55,49), rather than before - to guarantee a 'good' pop - since you lucked out and didn't get a bad pop anyway, no harm done. The question of whether to follow that policy of holding off on pods next to future base sites could also be subject of a discussion. I know it can be fun to pop pods, but getting monoliths and bonus tiles next to bases provides a continuing advantage and little risk (the main risk is sinking a nearby ship due to an earthquake, which is apparently deemed to be 'good'). That pod was also part of the reason for the selection of that particular spot as a base site, so the exact spot for that base is up for grabs again. The rover can explore the island I suppose, but I would recommend caution w/r popping pods, particularly ones in fungus or other slow terrain (so that there is another move left in case it is necessary to decide between fight or flight) and to consider whether or not a base site adjacent to a newly discovered pod would be useful enough to forgo popping the pod until then.

I would be inclined to put Montezuma's Revenge in to port at Calico sometime soon, as it is reasonably close, to get it back up to speed, damagewise, so it could hunt some IoD's and get more money and morale upgrades with less risk. It also might be a good time to get ready to pop the sea pod at (54,38), any free builds from which would go to [/b]Calico[/b] - I might put a ResHosp as the (hopefully free) temporary build there, mostly due to the greed factor, but there are of course many nice things that could go in there. The idea would be to move the Revenge up next to the pod (next turn, I guess, as it seems to have been already moved this turn) and then pop it the next, for safety reasons as above with the rover. I believe that there is still enough time to do that and still be able to change Calico's build without penalty. As to what it should be afterwards, I would be voting for a former (to forest that nut special), although it will need the use of the BootyCheck at (53,51), after it offloads the former from Sealurk - I would utilize BootyCheck this turn to offload the former to (53,57), then move it to (52,58) for a forest/sensor, then to (53,59) for a mine, with the crawler following in its footsteps for nuts from (53,57) and mins from the other two as they are finished being terraformed. If we are lucky, the former will be finished at Calico at about the same time the BootyCheck can get there and the crawler at Sealurk about the time it gets back (and maybe another round trip for more crawlers). Those logistics would be worth someone checking out for reasonableness.

Liar's: Would recommend that the crawler be moved to (47,65) or (47,63), so that you would have the flexibility to switch its production to nuts should it become desirable to maximize nut production on any particular turn instead of mins - it doesn't look attractive at the moment, but you never know. More importantly, the RecComm will needed in only 2 turns, so unless you want to use a doctor, we will need to rush it over this turn and the next (it looks like 13 additional mins or 26 P's of E will need to be budgetted over that period).

Boot: There is a similar thing with the crawler here (suggesting that the crawler be at (41,65) to be readily switchable), only in this case, there is a better reason for optimizing nuts, as the population could use some help growing. It could probably wait until the next crawler is done though, so this one doesn't really need to be moved (for that reason anyway). There are several missions for that former, take your pick - planting another forest at (39,69) - building a road at (38,68) to go to the monolith and athen on to Accident - and farming (41,67) for crawling; that would be my order of priority, but doing the farm 1st would'nt be all bad either, just

Alexandria I would change the build to a RecComm - Next turn we can put the the crawler on (56,72) and send that Bootyboat (the Belly of the Sealurk back to 'Rita to unload that crawler it is building. I think that Margarita'a Banana BootyBoat currently near Tripoli at (54,68), should probably go back west to Liar's, probably taking the new Party Pooper with it to one of the bases over there. I suppose we should build at least one more PP at Tripoli before building something else. HMB won't be ready to start building them for a while yet, although having a CmdCntr, it should build some of them eventually

Cassablanka: Why don't you put both of those formers to work planting a forest and at least one of them buliding a road at (55,73). You might want to produce from (56,72) this turn (before Alex's crawler gets there next turn) so as to finish the scout a little sooner and be able to pop that pod and get back before the next pop growth occurs.

'Rita: Perhaps the crawler to the forest for mins; perhaps not - check out the logistics of the Booty Boat at Alex for timing considerations. Rita's land former (55,67) could move over and start on (56,66) which could get the defungus solar road program, unless you have a better idea, which might not be too hard to come up with.

Tripoli: At least one of the seaformers (probably both) should go to the min special at (52,66) for defungus, nuts and solar treatments. At some point, one of them could go to (55,63) for a solar/nut job.

**Hercules** · October 13, 2003, 06:28

Welcome on deck Makahlua.

Yep all sensible suggestions. The crawler on Bird island was always destined for the forest for mins it just got dropped of there.

Re the rover in L'il Accident, it is simply acting as a police unit until we build a scout.

I don't know what the Borgs are up to. Tney did not communicate breaking off PACT afaik. I see the Hive are building another SP and researching Ecol Eng.

**johndmuller** · October 13, 2003, 11:47

In light of the Cycon actions, which I consider to be over the line viz a viz fair play, I believe that we should issue to Googlie (and perhaps to the game at large) that we believe that play should be suspended pending an investigation by Googlie into the dealings of the Cycon. While totally duplicitous behavior (such as accepting a tech delivered with a reference to a message they at the same time claim not to have received) has not AKAIK been deemed 'officially' unacceptable, it is officially unacceptable to me and IMhO should be addressed by the CMN, who should order appropriate redress which I believe should include the retirement of the current Borg team from play.

As we have all the commlinks, we could also state whatever case we wish in the main forum and theoretically noone else would be eligible to reply, including the Borg. This is an interesting possibility, but I suspect a can of worms, should we open it without thinking it through first and being sure to remind everyone (in just about every other sentence) that they should not reply in open forum with any game details without full coomlinks. We could, however, issue a call to arms against the Borg including offers of Peace, Prosperity, money, techs, chickens-in-every-pot - to which the Borg would not be allowed to reply, except to us privately, but which would be 100% legal for us to do. I am completely in favor of starting a global crusade against them in such a fashion, espeecially if Googlie does not fashion a reasonable resolution to this.

Edit: Cap'n Maki:
Based on YOUR OWN post in the ACDG turn thread, you seem to have posted on the next turn to the Drones at 11:20 EDT, contrary to your own message to the effect that we reply by 12:00 EDT. I am in EDT, so the post times show up in EDT for me - saving me the conversion (which I could very well do wrong if left to my own devices). This is a bad way to lead the faction, especially on your very first turn (and especially also when I was trying to get you to hold the turn - before 12:00 EDT. We need to know that you are at least reading our feedback before finishing the turn, not going off on your own leaving us doing the work on it for nothing. It was not as if you were right at the deadline either; there were a good 16 or so hours to go. Rushing to get the turn out was what got your predecessor in trouble with various deals, including the current dust-up. There may be lots of comments in the main forum about delays, etc, but none of the other factions have anywhere near as many contacts to worry about as we do, and most of the hurry-up comments aren't directed at us anyway, so thicken up your skin and don't take the turn til we're ready.

**Makahlua** · October 15, 2003, 04:43

My apologies - I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to keep our end of the turn pace up

I also neglected to check back in our forum before posting (noting that I did not see Flubber's two hold messages until around 2 my time (3 EDT) either :/ )

What a way to start my turn on deck....... *sigh*

**johndmuller** · October 15, 2003, 21:36

Don't beat yourself up over it, second guessing comes with the job, so someone else usually takes care of that.

I did more than my share of that when Cap'n Hercules was at the helm, so hopefully I can mellow out this shift. OTOH, Cap'n H is about to find out constructive criticism / harsh ragging about your successor's handling of the 'masterpiece' is often irresistable; those 2 cents are really hard to keep in your pocket.

Along with waiting for the comments, it is also nice to make a .sav file just before you hit turn complete and make that available somehow (posted and/or emailed) to the crew, so if anyone is interested in planning ahead, they will be working with the latest data.

Speaking of planning ahead, I will attempt to organize the terraforming and the base production stuff over the next turn or so, in order that everyone can chime in on what we are doing or thinking of doing before the last minute comes around.

I don't know if you read or acted on my last set of recommendations, but as I posted elsewhere, if you took my advice about sending the new InfProbe west, that seems to be a bad idea in light of our relations with the Borg going south, so think about sending it back east to help probeguard something closer to them.

**Makahlua** · October 16, 2003, 18:55

Got a 0 energy preaccepted offer and message from 'Abo Abbot'? I think the Hive is on some heavy xenoweed .... it's in the diplobox if you want to see

Boot went into riots; I retooled for rec comms ata loss of 2 min, but paid in 20 POE on it so it will be done quicker (we can pay in another ~20 next turn to complete, but I didn't want to drain our reserve too much)

Re-routign the PP back to th east, I had auto-moved them so I didn't catch them fast enought o turn them around sooner :/ The evil computer only gave us a map for the pod near Calico's though

There's another pod close by revealed as well as the one just outside Calico the PMS Santiago could try again on the way home, though. PMS Revenge confirmed Yardarm/Crow's Nest is indeed one long isle; our speeder should finish the east coast exploration in a few turns. Come to think of it they could hit that pod by Calico next turn - shall I leave the reshosp as the build there?

PMS Farragut continued east, clearing the last black from the unnameable islet NE of Roze; PMS King Lear heds thru the channel and loops N shortly to expose all of that islet.

Needing orders: crawler #2 @ LA; SeaForm @ Tripoli; Booty Check was headed to Calico to drop off a former to be made there? And where did the crawler at Alex go to?

**Hercules** · October 16, 2003, 21:45

Re crawler at L'il Accident suggest put straight on to the forest at 36.68 and don't forget to press O to benefit right away for next turn.
Re SF at Tripoli move it to help defungus the Min eral SP at 52,66

re Crawler at Alex. Think about putting it on 57,71 for 1 turn, and crawl 1 min
instead of putting it on 56,72 ( the tile with the forest and sensor) as it would waste Nut and energy. Change current doctor to worker and place on 62, 74 with the energy special.

re worker at Casablanca, move it to 56,72 .I t won't delay increase to size 2 and will complete the seascout in 1 turn. Don't forget Stockpile. Also those 2 formers I thought it was to be road and forest, you have one of them building a farm

PMS Santiago at, 54,24 move one turn to be next to pod.( I'd be in favour of popping those clear water pods ASAP on the way home.

next I would move PMS Revenge to just past the pod to 52,38 and then be prepared to head to Calico.

At Tripoli I would interested in changing the PP to cruise(5turns) or foil probe( 4turns).
at present rates

You might want to change a worker at Liars lair to a doctor until Rec Com is built otherwise it will be in Drone riots next turn, and delay the completion of RC. The remaining workershould be on the sea mineral tile.

Amazingly Calico is the nearest territorial port for our three built PMS schooners. if we're thinking of going FM the PMS Farragut (independent) does not lead to Drones. PMS King Lear if not popping pods would get there in 26/28 moves. It could Dock in Atlantis in 29. But it would also be useful to explore the Big Black area south of DJ.

And don't forget to activate the crawlers when the stop, even if jus tenroute somewhere. Also don't forget Stockpile in the build queue slot if something is near completion. every little helps.
My 2 cents worth

**Hercules** · October 16, 2003, 21:55

Note our friends the Borg have switched their Sp to MCC as the VW was already built.

I favour L'il Accident for the PEG. Adapt econ will be available to us in 5/6 turns and we need to prepare. I know it will need protected.

**johndmuller** · October 17, 2003, 05:21

I see Cap'n Herc is indeed on his way to becoming a Monday morning quarterback (I don't suppose you use that expression over there, do you?) - good, there's plenty of stuff to keep up with.

The Borg're probably just building the MCC because they think we want to build it (unless it is the only one they can build). It doesn't really bother me that much anyway as the fact is, maties, much as we may love em', the boats in this game just ain't that powerful anyway, once the planes start flying. The PEG can put some gold in them mostly empty treasure chests we keep luggin' around. Do we expect to have a monopopy on that possible SP, or do we need to build it quickly if we want it.?

Alexandria: For some reason, the b-drone (that was here, IIRC) has moved to HMB instead - very odd. So while we have to deal with that drone now, the flip side is apparently at this base, where we can put that worker back to work (I believe (56,72) would be a good spot for the worker) and put the crawler on the southern nut special at (59,75) for the 3 nuts/turn. Unless we want to rush the RecComm next turn for 32 PoE, we will have to make it a doctor again next turn, before the pop grows to 3. I see that Cap'n Herc has recommended a different arrangement. I presume Cap'n Herc would move the crawler to (56,72) next year (as we will need to switch that worker back to a doctor until the RecComm is finished), producing more Mins and Energy than my plan for that period, but after that, it would be kind of stuck over there until we are next able to get a bootyboat, or if it walks all the way around to the southern nut special. I suppose it depends on the extent with which we are going to rush the RecComm. Since I think it is only going to be a couple of years, I'll stick to my plan, but If you do go with Cap'n Herc's version, I would thing that (58,70) is a better tile to work than (62,74), as it gets more of everything.

Liar's: I agree with Cap'n Herc. I think the question at hand is how much do we want to rust. There are RecComms that could/should be rushed at Alex and and HMB, as well as here

HMB:I thought I suggested building the road first at (38,68), where the former just came from before the one you just started at (38,70); that way, on our way back from building the road at (38,70) we could take the road bact to (38,68) and get an extra former turn. (I realize it is traditional to waste former turns over there, but maybe we could try something different.) Looking backat my advice, it wasn't all that clear what I meant. Herc's destination for Accident's crawler is better than mine (I was just keeping it simple in suggesting the nut site before the farm is done). Suggest you move HMB's crawler from (37,63) to (41,65) for flexibility - to be able to crawl nuts from (42,64) if desired in future. PS: you might want to take the (extra) RecComm out of the build queue and replacing it with Stockpile Energy. All the other bases that are building facilities should have it atop the queue also, as that is the way of this game, due to an earlier ruling.

Tripoli: I agree that we should build a seaprobe here, as to which kind, take your pick (althouth I would appreciate it if you renamed the so-called 'Foil Probe' as I find it confusing (since it is in fact a Cruiser Probe). I suppose it was part of Cap'n H's passive-aggressive response to my active-aggressive critiques some of his turnplay, but since he is picking up my role, the appropriate passive-aggressive activities need to be directed at him rather than me

.

Casablanca: Ah, I see the rest of Cap'n Herc's plan for Alex now - I don't have time now to figure it all over again, but I am sure about Alex producing from (58,70) instead of (62,74), if nothing else. You can also rush the minimum necessary for the scout for just 5 PoE if there is a rush and you like my plan for Alex better than Herc's plan for here.

Accident: I'd leave the rover as the garrison for a while rather than build another unit to have to support - a scout isn't any better defender anyway and we could be building something else (like a RecComm) perhaps.

Sealurk: BootyCheck was slated for Calico, yes - to offload a Former to be built there whenever the pod-popping builds are out of there; then back here to unload the crawler, then back up there to unload a crqwler from there. I didn't time any of that out, but they're both nettinig the same number of mins, so it ought to work out more or less.

**Hercules** · October 17, 2003, 08:11

Hi Maki, Sorry to come back again.

First the sav should have read end 2142 not 2141. It is the endturn 2142 though.

Just check Casablanca and LL' s because when I opened them the workers a switched ( probably the AI to not the most preductive tiles.

However the big change is you seemed to have switched to planned. THe benefit of course is speedier growth and industry but income drops. That cruiser probe will now be available in 3 and other facilities and builds faster. But our research drops.

Such major changes in SE settings have traditionally required a poll.

**Makahlua** · October 17, 2003, 09:48

How the heck did I do that?? Maybe I hit the wrong key when I had some crashes earlier swapping between it and Paint Shop Pro...at any rate I can switch it back no problem

**Googlie** · October 17, 2003, 10:38

Originally posted by johndmuller
althouth I would appreciate it if you renamed the so-called 'Foil Probe' as I find it confusing (since it is in fact a Cruiser Probe

Yeah - I edited my alphax.txt some months age to rename this prebuilt unit, but unfortunately it's my earlier version of the .txt that's embedded in the game

G.

**johndmuller** · October 17, 2003, 12:02

So that was you, Googlie. I guess it means that everyone will have to deal with that particular bit of confusion - and the AI won't bother to rename theirs for sure. Perhaps we should call it a "Googlie Planetbuster Torpedo"? Actually, they don't seem to be renamable, being predesigned, so I guess we have to live with them (the design could be obsoleted however, but given that it doesn't cost us a DW slot this way, it's probably best to just remember what it really is (the picture helps).

-----------------------------

Cap'n Maki, are you switching back the workers Herc mentioned or the SE settings or both. I take it there is another file out there somewhere that has this stuff in it along with the wrong date, but if you sent it to me, I/we may be having mail problems (I thought I was getting the previous files from you OK); perhaps my bottle just got dragged over the pond with Cap'n Herc's by the Gulf Stream and it is only a brief delay. If you posted it somewhere I would have thought it to be in this thread or in the main forum's thread. BTW, notice how the "Peace" in Drogue's turn passing post (who I thought was supposed to have been put on the shelf by disapproving Borg members) is underlined (and in italics; I wonder if there is a message or 2 in that.

As to the questions raised by Cap'n Hercules, of course I don't know what the particular placement of workers at Alex is at the moment, but I recall there being lots of decent possibilities. As to the SE setting, if we are in Planned, I hope that suitable adjusments were made in the bases getting b-drones due to the reduced efficiency (if I do that, they pop up in Liar's and Tripoli) and presumably in Alex next turn with the increased pop coming sooner than it would have without planned. Actually Planned does't impact us as much as I thought it would (too bad it does Tripoli, but the production's not that bad even with a doctor - looks like a candidate for a Holo anyway however, if we ever feel we can afford to take it out of more urgent projects).

I am still concerned as to why the b-drones moved from Alex to HMB (if they really did - I thought they were in Alex, but maybe I'm misremembering); it seems to me that they stay put once they make an appearance, that they don't switch around unpredictably.

BTW, the reason the Hive sent us 0 P's of E preaccepted was to cause the window to open for us automatically, I presume so that we could appreciate their Latin philosophy proverbs. (A Monastary without books is like a civilization without (take your pick: Power, Wealth, Succor, MomFlags&ApplePie, etc); like a camp without soldiers, cooks without 'suppellectilli' (kitchens, or food, I suppose); a mind without nourishment, a garden without spices, a meadow without flowers, a tree without leaves....I was hoping there was something hidden in there, but unless it is 'suppellectilli', I missed it - there's a choice of spins in the first couple or so, including military spin, but that's probably looking for substance thats not really there)....Why don't you respond with "Semper ubi sub ubi" - its a trite latin/english joke (always where under where).

**Googlie** · October 17, 2003, 17:38

Mak:

can you post a link to the pre-endgame save here (or e-mail it to me at:

googlie at canada dot com

and I'll have a look - I think you must be using the "quit" menu item (left hand list of options) instead of the "turn complete" button (right hand side)

G.

Announcement

Turns 2141-2160

Turns 2141-2160

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